AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

Adults who have not received any AstraZeneca doses by today will not be eligible to receive this vaccine.

However, they will be able to receive another vaccine type, which is currently Sinopharm.

The decision to limit AstraZeneca for 1^st doses was made by the National Immunization Coordination Committee of the Ministry of Health this week based on the current limited availability of the vaccine in Vanuatu.

From tomorrow, 1 February 2022, the remaining AstraZeneca stock at the National and Provincial Health office will be used for 2nd doses only.

The doses were the first batch of the vaccine that was ordered by the Government through the COVAX facility.

The vaccine arrived in April and the vaccination roll out began on 2 June.

The Government has ordered over 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that will be arriving in batches due to a high global demand.

The Ministry of Health said it is committed to ensure all AstraZeneca vaccine doses are used before the expiry date of 31 August.

The first batch of the vaccine is expected to arrive by the end of next month.

Ambassador of Japan to Vanuatu, Chiba Hiroshisa said they are in full support of prevention of coronavirus in Vanuatu.

The assistance follows the recent announcement of Japan’s Foreign Minister, Motehi Toshimitsu, that Japan will provide a grant of 11 million for doses of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Japan to countries through the COVAX Facility.